Two years ago this month, the federal organic standards took effect, requiring third-party certification for any farmer who wanted to label products “organic.” The far-reaching effects of the law are still unknown, even with the passage of two years. Hard-and-fast data on organic certification numbers are not available nationwide, and at this point only piecemeal information provides any sense of what’s going on in organic farming.

This much can be said: the number of acres of certified-organic production has increased steeply. And sales of organic products continue to climb.

But how the law has affected Growing for Market readers, who are primarily small-scale, direct-market farmers, will have to be determined at some time a few years from now, when data collection and analysis can catch up with the changes. Clearly, many direct marketers have chosen to drop their organic certification, but many others are signing up to get certified. Alternatives to organic certification are beginning to take hold. And marketing programs that stress “fresh and local” rather than organic are flourishing in many states.

The numbers
The exact number of certified-organic farmers in the U.S. is not known, even now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates organic growers. A spokeswoman for the National Organic Program at USDA directed GFM to its most recent information, a report from the Economic Research Service that estimates 11,998 certified organic farms in 2001, the year before the federal law took effect. That figure is based on the agricultural survey, in which farmers identified themselves as organic.

In the same year, the Organic Farming Research Foundation collected names of certified farms from all the organic certification agencies for its fourth National Organic Farmer Survey. A total of 6,487 farmers were identified – a little more than half the number who identified themselves as certified organic in the USDA report.

Figuring out which of these numbers is correct is an increasingly difficult effort, as USDA continues to accredit new certification agencies all the time. When the law took effect two years ago, there were 53 private and state-run certifiers. Today there are 120. Both OFRF and USDA are currently collecting names of certified farms from these certification agencies, but it will be some time before firm numbers are available.
More recent numbers are available from individual certifiers, and, as might be expected, California reports tremendous growth. Peggy Miars, acting president of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), said that certified organic operations grew from 857 in 2001 to 1,147 in 2003 – a 34% increase. The greatest increase was in out-of-state operations and processors/handlers. Acreage increases were also large.

“The largest acreage growth, besides pasture & field at 360%, was in the nut category, which grew 90% from 2001 to 2003,” Miars said. “Stone fruit grew 66% during that same period, followed by tomatoes at 47% and assorted vegetables at 46%. The total field & seed category grew by 86%. Nurseries and flowers grew by a respectable 65%.” Farms certified by Oregon Tilth have increased from 359 in 2001 to 388 in 2003.

Overall, the organic certification business is still in tremendous flux. Several certifiers got out of the business when the federal law took effect, and prices among certifiers vary, leading to some price shopping by farmers. As a result, even comparing one agency’s numbers before and after the federal law doesn’t reveal anything definite about nationwide trends.

While many farmers who have stopped being certified are coming up with new labels on their own, at least two alternative certification programs have taken off – Certified Naturally Grown and The Farmer’s Pledge by NOFA-NY.

Certified Naturally Grown
Certified Naturally Grown now has more than 200 certified farms. The program requires that farmers meet all the USDA rules for organic production, but inspection is done by a fellow farmer, Extension specialist, or even customers. Farm products also must be sold locally. The program is based on the internet, and every farm’s application, declaration, and inspection report is posted there. (www.naturallygrown.org) Payment is voluntary, with a suggested donation of $20 to $100. Every farmer who gets the CNG certification is obligated to inspect at least one other farm when asked. Farms may not trade inspections, though.

Certified Naturally Grown is the creation of Ron Khosla, a CSA farmer in New Paltz, New York, who objected to the record-keeping requirements of the federal organic program. He felt that although the federal rules might work for a large farm with a few crops, it was impractical for the typical market gardener, who grows literally hundreds of different crops throughout the year. At first he considered establishing standards for CNG farms, but eventually decided that it was easier and more clearly understood by customers for a farmer to be able to say, “I follow all the federal organic standards.”

As the organic industry has grown the past two years, Ron says that CNG has appealed to the small-scale, family farmers who popularized organic production in the first place.

“When we first started Certified Naturally Grown, the farmers signing up said it was because of their paperwork and cost concerns with USDA Organic,” Ron said. “That’s changed. Now most of the farmers joining CNG instead of Organic say they made their choice because they don’t want to lend their name, image and credibility to what they feel has been reduced to an agribusiness marketing label. They are signing up to support and encourage a label that goes beyond Organic if for no other reason than because it is only available to direct market farmers selling locally.

“While it is hard for some people to ‘let go’ of the Organic label, others have more quickly realized that it has been lost to agribusiness and large corporations, and maybe that NEEDED to happen! Maybe it was a natural progression for organic. But now we’ve got to let it go! We need to move BEYOND organic, and we need to lead our customers beyond organic too -back to us! Back to small family farms that farm in diversified and truly sustainable ways. When small farmers stick to the Organic label they just continue to confuse consumers. Let it go! We NEEDED a label that fit large corporations and processors, but now we need a SECOND kind of label (or labels, maybe one for each region!) that highlights small farmers selling locally and directly.”

CNG caught the attention of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), which invited Ron last spring to a meeting in Brazil on alternative certification programs. This month, he is traveling to Uganda for another IFOAM meeting on what is now being called “participatory certification,” in which farmers and consumers do the inspections for organic farms. Such programs are much more common in other countries, and Ron expects they will be the next big thing in the United States.

“I am looking forward to the meeting in general, but also getting to see more of what they have done there!” Ron said. “They have apparently signed on 35,000 of their small farmers to a Participatory Certification system based entirely on alternative (rather than Government-based, paperwork-heavy and expensive certification). Much more than just “certifying” the farmers, it provides them with technical assistance, peer support and semi-regular regional meetings to help disseminate new information as well as discuss cooperative marketing possibilities. I think we could learn a lot here in the U.S. about what they’ve done over there, ESPECIALLY the fact that they’ve been able to get 35,000 farmers involved. That’s just completely astonishing.”

The Farmer’s Pledge
Elizabeth Henderson, a New York CSA farmer, also attended the Brazil meeting to talk about the Farmer’s Pledge that NOFA-NY has created for its members. The Farmer’s Pledge is a word-of-honor system in which farmers agree to grow according to the organic standards, but also to strive for sustainability and social justice in their farming operations. (See the next page.)

NOFA-NY explains why it created the Farmer’s Pledge: “Attracted by this premium market, industrial scale farming enterprises in California and other western states have converted several thousand acres to organic crops, and mainstream agribusinesses have purchased some of the small companies that established the market for processed organic foods. While using ecological production methods, these larger entities have not embraced the social justice aspects of organic agriculture. As a result, they are able to supply organic products at a lower price than small scale independently run family farms.

“Faced with these realities, organic farmers and activists, who have been frustrated in the efforts to lobby both the NOP and the OTA to make the organic label stand for the entire set of values embodied in our movement, decided that it is time to articulate more precisely the social and quality of life concerns of organic agriculture. Small scale and family farmers need a way to differentiate their product from industrialized organic in the market place. People who support socially just, ecologically sound and humane organic farming and processing need a way to guide their food choices so they can vote with their dollars for the kind of agriculture they want. To address this urgent need, NOFA-NY, with the help of many people, has created the Farmer’s Pledge.”

This year, 93 farmers have taken the pledge. Some of them are also certified organic, but many are not. NOFA-Connecticut has also offered it to its members.